"For a game like SPLINTER
CELL: CONVICTION, it takes a far more tricky approach - simply because
of the three layers of music and having to have them interact with
each other seamlessly and at any given moment."

Kaveh Cohen

Tracksounds is able to get both
composers Kaveh Cohen and Michael Nielsen on the line for quick chat
regarding their upcoming score for the much-anticipated SPLINTER
CELL: CONVICTION video game, as well as the new TV animated-series,
WOLVERINE and the X-MEN. The co-composers also talk about
their library of trailer music entitiled FULL TILT and Kaveh Cohen's
score for the 2007 Audio Book of the Year, THE BIBLE EXPERIENCE.
(Published February 13, 2008)

CC: Because the
SPLINTER CELL series
already has a pretty
rich music tradition
with JESPER KYD, AMON
TOBIN and LALO
SCHIFIRIN contributing
to previous games, did
that place any
additional pressure
upon you as you were
writing for SPLINTER
CELL: CONVICTION?

MICHAEL NIELSEN: I
didn't feel any and we
certainly didn't have
any of that sort of
pressure placed upon
us by Ubisoft. I think
that's because this
game is a bit of a
left-turn for the
franchise. They wanted
to re-invent the
franchise and wanted
to take it in a much
more cinematic
direction and point of
view than it had in
the past. They were
really looking for us
to bring everything
that we could to the
project rather than
copy something else.
They wanted something
fresh and brand new.

CC: Now is the music
found in the trailer
for the game
indicative of what the
final score will be?

KAVEH COHEN: Somewhat.
The trailer music was
actually cut from some
early in-game music
that was written. All
of that music has
since been replaced by
the Hollywood studio
symphony.

MICHAEL NIELSEN: Yes.
That music is cut
together from one of
the maps. That was the
first piece of music
that we wrote for the
game, so it set the
tone. Would you agree
with that, Kaveh?

KAVEH COHEN: Yes...I'd
say, for the most
part, it does have
that sort of vibe.
There are moments here
that may vary a bit
from that, but there
is always a core tone
and direction for the
score. There are
moments here and there
where we do go a
little bit "left
field" with different
instrumentation or a
different texture.

CC: Now the game-play
of SPLINTER CELL:
CONVICTION is
different from the
previous games, in
that it has a bit of
an ASSASSIN'S CREED
element where you can
free-roam a bit more
throughout each map. How
did this effect the
way you approached the
writing process?

MICHAEL NIELSEN: It
definitely is a far
more open playing
field that it has been
in the past. Before
you were sort of on
"rails" where you were
given a mission to get
to a certain place and
then you were out.
This time you can
choose your levels in
almost a random order.
And within the game as
well, you can choose
to play it in a
stealth perspective or
an action perspective.
It's really wide open
and, in that respect, is
like ASSASSIN'S CREED.
We really had to take
a lot of care in how
our levels interacted.
For each of the maps
we would write three
layers. They would
each be the same exact
length and the exact
tempo and were all
related pieces of
music. Layer one would
be low, set the tone
and level of tension.
The next layer would
be a "high tension"
and the last layer
would be full-on
"action." At any given
time, depending upon
what is going on in
the game and what the
player is doing, those
layers can cross fade
in and out of each
other. In the end, you
get a very score-like
response and reaction
with the music. When
it's working at its
best, it's seamless.

CC: That must greatly
increase the amount of
time it takes you to
compose.

KAVEH COHEN: It's
quite a departure from
scoring film,
television or
trailers. For those
genres, you have only
one piece of music
playing through a
given scene. For a
game like SPLINTER
CELL: CONVICTION, it
takes a far more
tricky approach -
simply because of the
three layers of music
and having to have
them interact with
each other seamlessly
and at any given
moment. The computer
is actually playing
all three levels of
music at the same time
and it is crossfading
between the three
depending upon what's
happening on screen.
So it is triple the
work.

MICHAEL NIELSEN: And
we didn't write
infinite-length cues.
There is stuff that
ranges from one minute
to a couple minutes of
music and it will have
to loop. We had to
take special care that
the music didn't
become annoying if the
player is on a
specific level for a
very long time. And it
had to feel like the
music doesn't actually
loop. So you have the
challenge of
transitioning between
the three layers and
in addition to the
challenge of looping.

CC: So it must be even
more difficult to
write and orchestrate
music, performed by a
live orchestra that
intends to be looped
than if you were
simply using
electronic
instrumentation.

KAVEH COHEN: In the
early stages, we had
to keep in mind that
the electronic
portions we were
writing would
eventually be
performed by an
orchestra. It's
definitely easier to
loop a sampled string
section, when it comes
to fades and what not,
than it is the same piece
when its recorded
live. But we had all
of that in mind right
from the beginning -
that we would be
replacing all of our
electronic mock-ups
with the live
orchestra. That helped
us quite a bit.

MICHAEL NIELSEN: The
biggest part was
getting "it" in the
writing - where there
is a loop point.

CC: Now SPLINTER CELL:
CONVICTION has been
pushed back to
November of this year.
Could any of the work
they are doing to the
game now affect you
having to re-write
and/or re-record?

KAVEH COHEN: I don't
think there will be
any rewriting involved
but there might more
writing involved. Our
contribution as it
stands isn't really
complete, so we are on
a little bit of a
hiatus. We are going
to be writing more
material for the game.
That which we've
already done has been
substantial, but now
we are just waiting to
see what has been
added to the game.

CC: Do you anticipate
a release of the
game's score?

MICHAEL NIELSEN:
Everyone is shooting
for that.

KAVEH COHEN: I'd
certainly like to.

MICHAEL NIELSEN: The
trick to making a good
soundtrack release is, structuring
it
to be the best
listening experience
possible. Since what we
originally wrote was
more for a subliminal
experience with loops
and crossfading, there
will be some work that
needs to be done.
Still, everyone is really
happy with the music
thus far and really
passionate about it,
so everyone is pulling
for a soundtrack
release.